


Winter Is For Wolves

by robindrake93



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Animal Attack, Boys Kissing, Drugged Ronan Lynch, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Joseph Kavinsky is His Own Warning, POV Multiple, POV Third Person, Underage Drinking, Wolf Instincts, Wolf Ronan Lynch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29819367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robindrake93/pseuds/robindrake93
Summary: Ronan accidentally turned himself into a wolf. This is how his closest friends react.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 4





	Winter Is For Wolves

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting in my docs since October 25, 2019. I remember that winter being cold and feeling feral. 
> 
> Don't reupload/repost my works.

Getting a phone call in the middle of the night was one of the worst things that happened. He was still groggy when he fished his cell phone from beneath his pillow. The caller ID was unfamiliar. “Gansey speaking.” 

“Gansey,” Adam’s voice came on the other line. There was something about his tone that put Gansey immediately on edge. “Could you pick up my homework for me tomorrow?” 

Such a simple request but coming from Adam, it meant a lot. Gansey sat up in bed. He wasn’t tired anymore. “Of course I will. Where are you?” He strained his ears for a clue, for any noise on Adam’s end of the line to give him a hint. 

There was a pause before Adam answered, voice low and unhappy, “I’m at the hospital.” 

Gansey flew out of bed. He shoved his bare feet into his shoes. There was no time for socks. It was one of those nights where he fell asleep in his day clothes and so he didn’t have to bother with getting dressed. “May I inquire why you are at the hospital?” 

Another long pause gave Gansey time to find his car keys. “I guess I can’t hide this.” If anything, Adam sounded annoyed by the fact that he couldn’t hide his injury and not by the fact that he had an injury. It made Gansey’s heart ache and it made him angry. “My neck is broken.” 

Gansey clipped his keys to his belt loop. He froze mid-action. His mind replayed the words before they finally sunk in. That son of a bitch broke Adam’s neck. “Did your father do it to you?” 

The pause was shorter. “Not on purpose.” 

Gansey held back every vile, hurtful word that wanted to come out of his mouth. He went to Ronan’s room and threw the door open. Ronan wasn’t there. He checked Noah’s room but there wasn’t any sign of him either. Gansey sighed. He would call them in a moment. “I’ll be there shortly.” 

“You don’t have to come,” Adam started. 

“I’m coming, Adam. It’s non debatable.” Gansey hung up the phone before Adam could argue more. He called Ronan’s cell phone, not really expecting him to answer it. The phone rang in Ronan’s room. Gansey hung up. He all but ran down the stairs to the front door and threw it open. 

A wolf stood just on the other side of the door. It was big for a wolf, or at least Gansey thought it was. He’d never seen one in real life. Its fur was black but the moonlight that spilled onto it turned its outline silver. The wolf looked at him and began to head towards him. 

Gansey slammed the door shut. His heart pounded fast. He didn’t have time for this. A wolf. Why was there a wolf outside? Wolves weren’t even in Virginia anymore. Gansey rubbed his temples. He cast his gaze around the bottom floor of the warehouse for something to defend himself with. They should have turned this into a garage so that they didn’t have to park outside. Why hadn’t they done that in the first place? 

Gansey found a length of pipe and picked it up. He wasn’t sure that he could really hit another living being with a pipe. If he could intimidate the wolf, he wouldn’t have to use the pipe. It was just in case. Gansey opened the door again. 

The wolf sat a little off to the side, looking directly at him. It didn’t move. 

Gansey steeled his nerves. He began inching toward his car, always keeping his eyes on the wolf. His heart raced and sweat formed beneath his arms. If the wolf attacked, Gansey wouldn’t be fast enough to make it to his car. 

The wolf turned its head to watch him pass but made no move to get up. Its eyes were a fierce, pale blue. 

Gansey put the car between himself and the wolf. His hands shook as he unlocked the car. As soon as the car was unlocked, Gansey yanked open the door and threw himself inside. He pulled the door shut almost before his feet were clear. Gansey looked at the wolf. 

It was on its feet, ears pricked and tail curled up over its back. The wolf watched Gansey pull out of the parking lot. 

The incident with the wolf disturbed Gansey but he only had room for so many disturbing thoughts and Adam took priority. Gansey drove almost as recklessly as Ronan did, fear turning his foot to lead. 

He did slow down as he pulled into the hospital parking lot. He wasn’t a complete hooligan, unlike some people. Gansey hurried into the hospital and got directions to Adam’s room. They’ve been through this song and dance enough that he was grudgingly welcome. Even though it was after hours. It helped that his family made large donations to the hospital. They even had a plaque in their name. 

“Are you alright?” Gansey said the moment he saw Adam. His friend did not look good. His face was swollen and there was a brace around his neck. Gansey sat down beside the bed, noting that both Mr. and Mrs. Parrish were absent. “Was your father arrested?” 

Adam shot Gansey a reproachful look. “It was an accident,” he said firmly, lying. “I’m not going to press charges.” His eyes dared Gansey to challenge him. Adam always seemed to grow a spine when he insisted on suffering. 

Gansey withdrew patience from a very deep well. If he hadn’t already been used to Ronan’s antics, then he might not have been able to handle Adam. But he has had practice dealing with stubborn boys who don’t know what’s good for them. “Are you alright?” Gansey repeated. 

“I’ll be fine,” Adam said. He was lying again. Gansey could tell by the tone of his voice and the way his eyes shifted to the side. 

“What did the doctors say?” Gansey pressed. 

So it went, Gansey pressing for information and Adam reluctantly giving it to him. Beneath his mask of calm, Gansey was seething. He didn’t understand how Adam’s dad could treat him like this or how Adam could continue to allow it. If only he’d take the help that others offered. It wasn’t like the whole town didn’t know that Adam was his dad’s punching bag. The police knew, the administration at the school knew. But Adam refused to press charges. One of these days, it would be someone else pressing charges in Adam’s name because Adam was no longer alive to do it himself. 

When Gansey was satisfied that he’d gotten the story and an adequate description of Adam’s injuries, he began to make plans for Adam’s schoolwork. Hospital visits did not mean that he could skimp. “I’ll bring it to you. Or Ronan will.” He almost added, _whenever I can find him_ , but caught himself. 

Adam picked up on what Gansey didn’t say anyway, quite perceptive when it came to Ronan. “You don’t know where he is?” 

Gansey pinched the bridge of his nose. “Not a damn idea. Well, I’ve got some ideas, but I don’t know for sure that they are where he is.” He waved his hand, trying to make light of Ronan’s disappearance. “I’ll find him as soon as I’m done with you.” 

Adam looked down at his hands, a guilty expression on his face. “You should go look for him. He could have...you know. Again.” _Committed suicide_ , Adam didn’t say. 

“I’m sure that Noah is with him. I couldn’t find either of them before I left Monmouth,” Gansey said, hoping with all of his heart that it was true. Ronan would never kill himself where Noah could see. 

They chatted some more, mostly about school. Adam didn’t want to talk about his injuries and Gansey didn’t want to talk about Ronan, who felt like an injury sometimes. But Gansey was growing more and more restless. Now that he knew Adam was fine for the night, his thoughts turned back to Ronan. 

Gansey needed air. He needed to breathe. He didn’t like hospitals, not at all, because they always spelled terrible things for himself and his friends. Gansey made his excuses to Adam and left. As he walked the sterile hallways, Gansey wondered where Ronan was. Noah was always a bit come and go and never particularly needed to be worried after...but Ronan could have crashed his car or been lying drunk in a ditch somewhere or picked up an STD from that bitch loser Kavinsky. Ronan always courted trouble - and by extension death - and it worried Gansey so much. 

The wolf was outside of the hospital. It sat beside a bench, its massive head in Noah’s lap. 

Noah’s pale fingers fondled the wolf’s black ears. 

Gansey froze at the sight of them. He’d forgotten about the wolf in the wake of Adam and Ronan’s distresses. Absurdly, the only thing that Gansey could think to say was, “Noah, is that Ronan’s collar?” 

Noah looked up, fixing Gansey in his pale blue gaze. Between the pale boy and the black wolf, they looked like something _other_. Well, how often was it that one saw a ghost with a wolf? “We thought it would be best for him to wear it in public.” 

The leather collar was buckled at the very last hole, as wide as it could go to accommodate such a thick neck. It was black and barely visible among that black fur, except for the golden bits that reflected the light. Gansey would swear that the wolf rolled its eyes. 

Noah gestured for Gansey to join him on the bench. 

Gansey eyed the wolf. But he trusted Noah, so he sat down beside them. Of course he was ready to spring away should the wolf attack...he wondered if he could punch a wolf hard enough to stop it mid attack. “Why do you have a wolf?” 

The wolf gave a long suffering sigh. It lifted its head from Noah’s lap. Then it put one paw on Gansey’s lap. Around the wolf’s paw were familiar leather bracelets, punctured with teeth marks from all the times that Ronan chewed on them. 

Gansey stared dumbly at the wolf and its paw. “Why is a wolf wearing all of Ronan’s jewelry?” 

Noah gave Gansey a disappointed look. “Because the wolf _is_ Ronan, Gansey.” He said this like it should have been obvious. 

Perhaps it should have been. Perhaps Gansey no longer believed in magic, even though two of his best friends were a ghost and a boy who dreamt things into existence. Gansey seized the wolf by the thick fur of his neck and forced that massive face to tip up so that they were looking each other in the eyes. His hands sank into the black fur. “Ronan Lynch, _what_ have you gotten yourself into?” Gansey asked sternly. 

Ronan flattened his ears against his skull but otherwise didn’t answer. At least he wasn’t a talking wolf. 

“He dreamed himself this way,” Noah said softly. He reached over and scratched between Ronan’s shoulder blades as though this was a normal occurrence and Ronan had always been in a wolfskin. “How’s Adam doing?” 

Gansey relayed the news. Because Adam wasn’t in earshot, he allowed his frustration to slip out. “I just want to help him,” Gansey said. He buried his face in Ronan’s fur, much more comfortable with the wolf now that he knew it was his best friend. 

Noah petted Ronan with one hand and patted Gansey with the other. “Adam thinks that all he has is his pride,” Noah said gently. His tone was mild but he didn’t seem overly happy about it any more than Gansey was. 

Ronan’s rumbling, vibrating growl felt like agreement.


End file.
